Toronto-area Liberal association condemns move to block candidate

The local Liberal association in a Toronto riding has denounced Justin Trudeau’s decision to disqualify a candidate from seeking the party’s nod in a coming byelection, the latest chapter in an ongoing debate about whether political parties support open nominations.

The executive of the Trinity-Spadina Liberal riding association condemned the national party’s decision to block two-time federal candidate Christine Innes from running in the newly vacated riding, calling the decision undemocratic and not in line with the party’s promise to hold open nominations. The riding’s previous MP, New Democrat Olivia Chow, recently resigned to run for the mayor’s job.

“The ultimate goal is to have a process that gives us a fair shot at a nomination in any riding,” said Julia Metus, president of the federal riding association. “We want our members to decide who the candidate is.”

In this file photo former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff tours Toronto’s China Town with Christina Innese. (Matthew Sherwood for National Post)

Liberal national election readiness chair David MacNaughton said he was surprised by the local riding’s stance. “I talked to the president last week and she didn’t express any of those views and was anxious to move on and help find a candidate as soon as possible.”

The national party has said it disqualified Innes because of bullying by some of her campaign workers. But in a statement March 13, she suggested the decision was due to her refusal to agree to run in a specific riding during the 2015 federal election.

MacNaughton said he had been trying to figure out how nominations for the future, reconstituted ridings in the area could work. “During the time that I was having those conversations, it came to our attention that people came forward and said they were being intimidated and bullied,” said MacNaughton.

Thursday, Metus and the executive took issue with how communication was handled from the Liberal Party after Innes’s campaign was halted.

“We heard about it in the news, and we didn’t hear about it officially from anyone,” said Metus. “At no time did I, or any members of the executive, receive any complaints of bullying and intimidation” over Innes’s campaign.

Metus also added that Innes was informed of the decision in a letter, which Metus said was “after the fact” and “coincided with the media drop of the same message,” giving neither Innes nor the executive any time to react.

In its statement Thursday, the executive backed Innes’s assessment, accusing the party of making “unproven and malicious allegations against the candidate and her family to cover up its desire to control the nomination process.”

Trinity-Spadina and the existing riding of Toronto Centre, which Liberal Chrystia Freeland won in a byelection late last year, will be chopped into three new ridings for the 2015 general election, due to redistribution.

Freeland intends to run in the northernmost new riding of University-Rosedale and the party had asked Innes to promise to that she’d seek the nomination in the southernmost new riding of Spadina-Fort York. She refused.

Despite the call to action from the local riding executive, MacNaughton said Innes will not be given a chance to resume her campaign for the Liberals.

“The decision has been made,” he said. “It was made on the basis of information that came to us. We made a judgment call, and we said that we weren’t prepared to have her stand as a candidate. I don’t really see any particular reason to change that.”

Earlier this week, Zach Paikin, a high-profile young federal Liberal, said he had decided not to run for his party “as a sign of protest” for the national party’s interference in Innes’s candidacy.